Documenting the vast array of wild plants and creatures which can co-habit just a single one-acre residential property

Eastern Pondhawk

IDENTIFICATION: The photo depicts a female Eastern Pondhawk, which is mostly green. Males turn blue (with a green head) by the time they mature.

This is the only photo to-date I’ve managed to get of the Eastern Pondhawk. They usually fly off before I can aim and shoot. I’ve seen them most frequently in the late spring and summer. I notice that dragonflies are most populace here on a suny day after a good rain. I have yet to photograph of a male.

RANGE: “This species is found in the Bahamas (Cat Island), Belize (Belize, Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk, Toledo), two provinces in Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic (Barahona, Bahoruco, Samaná), El Salvador, Honduras (Cortez), Jamaica (Clarendon, Cornwall, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. Elizabeth), eleven states in Mexico, Nicaragua (León) and forty two states in United States of America.” – Encyclopedia of Life

FOOD: “A voracious predator and expert hunter, the eastern pondhawk eats insects such as dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers and butterflies, often taking prey as large as, or even larger than, itself. It catches its prey in the air and often follows large mammals walking in long grass so that it can capture insects disturbed by them. While resting, the eastern pondhawk perches on low vegetation, on the ground or on floating debris” – ARKive.org

Additional details on the Eastern Pondhawk can be found at these sites: